


Finding the Sun Again

by Vipersweb (Rhianona)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-22
Updated: 2009-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-10 12:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhianona/pseuds/Vipersweb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On leave from the SGC, Daniel reconnects with his archaeological roots by working on a dig in Machu Pichu</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding the Sun Again

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: [Insert Witty Comment Here] SG-1 doesn't belong to me
> 
> Written for miss_zedem's fluff battle, using the prompt Machu Pichu, giddy and clouds

Daniel grinned with giddy excitement as he carefully brushed the dirt from his find. He had missed the excitement of this, the joy of discovery. Even if the find proved so pedestrian as a pottery sherd, it still represented something; it meant that someone, at some time, lived and worked and died here, under the clouds and sun and shadow of Machu Pichu. The more time he spent here, the less he felt like complaining to Landry and Jack about his forced "vacation."

Of course, his inherent happiness at the task in hand was only possible because one of his few remaining friends in his chosen avocation allowed him to join them on this dig. It had taken him a couple of days to grow accustomed to the work that had once filled his hopes and dreams. He thought that his team would laugh if he revealed how very soothing he found the process of excavating to be. But then, he hadn't exactly done that aspect of archaeology for too many years to count.

He bent his head, the sun's heat warming him despite the slight chill that never quite disappeared, not this high up. His tiny brush continued to uncover the small piece of pottery that now served as witness and window to the past. It was proof, proof that once upon a time, a man or a woman or maybe even a child, had stood here, in this spot… and lived.

By day's end, his small find would be photographed and drawn and entered into the database, before being carefully stored for transport to a lab for further study. When he went to sleep that night, Daniel slept with the sounds of others who were not his team. It surprised him how little sleep he got, and yet, at the same time, it didn't. He was a creature of habit.

And so, his days came and went. He rediscovered his love of archaeology and the dig and the find. The way they all slowly uncovered the lives of the generations who had once lived here, on mountaintops of Peru, each piece and fragment an attestation of the human spirit.

Daniel needed that. For too long, he had worked and lived with bitterness a constant companion. His efforts to save the galaxy and Earth from the Goa'uld and later the Ori had forced a change on him, one he didn't always like to accept. He hadn't had the time to simply sit back and relax - to simply be - in far too many years. He wondered how Jack had known he needed this. And then he realized, he shouldn't be surprised.

Three weeks later, he boarded a plane back to the States, still smiling from the invitation to join any of his friend's future expedition. He hoped he could convince Cam to take SG-1 out on some of the archaeology missions that usually went to one of the other teams. It would be nice to see whether the descendants of those peoples stolen from Earth by the Goa'uld developed in the same way as their distant kin on Earth had. Maybe the SGC could revert to the President's revised mandate for the SGC after the incident with the Touched. He really hoped so.

The giddy feeling refused to leave him, not even denting his mood when he encountered delays as he changed planes in Miami. He felt renewed and excited. Not even his trips to Atlantis had inspired such feelings. He wondered if the rest of SG-1 had enjoyed their vacation. Of course, the members of SG-1 were changing again: Sam had received her own ship to command, and Teal'c had finally returned to the Jaffa - he couldn't remain on Earth, not when the Ori had wrecked havoc on his people. It felt strange to realize that he was the last of the original SG-1. He had thought of retiring from the field, but… he liked Cam and Vala, and liked going through the 'gate. Why stop simply because his team had changed?

He gathered his luggage from the baggage carousal at the airport, his mind already cataloguing the various errands he needed to do before he returned to work in two days' time. Food to buy, clothes to wash - the little details that made up his life when he wasn't at the SGC or on another world. Lost in thought, it took a few moments for the voice calling his name to penetrate. Startled, he looked up and met the gaze of a smirking Cam Mitchell and a lounging Vala mal Doran. He blinked at them in confusion. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Cam snorted. "What? You think we were going to wait till Monday to see you? Nah. We wanted to hear all about your rocks and stuff." He swung an arm round Daniel's shoulders and dragged him towards the exit. "Besides, figured you would appreciate the ride."

Daniel smiled, the giddy feeling that had first arose in him when he saw the wondrous ruins of Machu Pichu remaining with him as he realized that coming home to friends and family was the best feeling in the world.


End file.
